THE IMPACT OF MONETARY AND LABOUR POLICIES ON THE SINGAPORE HOUSING MARKET

Abstract

In this paper, I perform a difference-in-differences analysis to study the impact of various monetary and labour policies on housing demand in Singapore. Using housing transaction level data with approximately 800,000 transactions, 1 find generally inconclusive results for the monetary policies studied due to the common trend assumption not being satisfied. 1 did, however, find that raising the Additional Buyer's Stamp Duty in 2013 reduced the quantity of private housing transacted in each postal sector by an average of 11.73 units per month relative to HDB transactions, through discouraging speculation. For labour policies, I find that raising the minimum qualifying salary for Employment Passes in 2012 reduced the unit prices of private housing by 1.46% relative to HDB flats. Quantity transacted, however, did not change significantly, indicating that it was a change in immigrant wage composition and not total immigrant numbers that drove the relative reduction in private housing prices.